Johnston, DMPS share consequences if students don't wear masks
Students who wish to go mask less will first face a meeting with their parents and school administration.
Students who wish to go mask less will first face a meeting with their parents and school administration.
Students who wish to go mask less will first face a meeting with their parents and school administration.
Johnston's mask mandate went into effect on Thursday after their school board approved the measure earlier this week.
For the first day, enforcement wasn't much of a challenge.
Students who wish to go maskless will face a meeting with their parents and school administration.
And if that child still plans to not wear a mask, they could be sent home.
"If at the end of all of that, there is still a refusal to wear a mask, we would ask the student to go home for the day or to just separate themselves from the rest of the instructional environment," said Laura Sprague with Johnston Community School District.
The same consequences stand true for Des Moines Public Schools — which enacted its mandate on Sept. 15 without holding a school board meeting.
One hundred and four students have opted out of the mask mandate for medical or educational reasons.
School staff say they feel this is only a small percentage compared to all DMPS students.
"We have about 32,000 students in the district so, a small number and again more than anything I think it reflects the fact that people here recognize the value of wearing their mask," said Phil Roeder with DMPS.
Johnston has received a number of mask exemption forms from families for medical and religious reasons.
No plans are in place now at either district to retract their mandates but if that moment comes, they're ready.
"What comes after a judge's review of this again, will come. And as all of our community has done, we will step up to the challenge, we will change and we will continue to do our very best," Sprague said.
"It's not our first time around the block on this issue. We had a mask mandate in place for almost all of last year," Roeder said. "We're hopeful that this will continue, at least for a while longer."